122 OIL-SEEDS AND OILS 



half-eaten fruits lying about, he knows that at the top of 

 the tree the great golden bunches are ready to be cut. 



He climbs the tree with the help of a rope round his foot, 

 much in the same way as a West Indian climbs his coco-nut 



TREE OF THE OIL PALM 



trees, and with a great knife or chisel cuts off the bunches of 

 fruit. 



The next operation is to extract the oil. The bunches 

 are piled up into heaps, and covered with leaves until the fruits 

 can be picked off easily from the stalks. They are then put 

 into a great iron cauldron with some water and brought to 



